AP source: New York Assembly to block many cuts in state budget

File photo / AP, 2010Members of the New York state Assembly listen to Gov. David Paterson's State of the State message during a Jan. 6 joint session of the legislature at the Capitol in Albany. Members of the Assembly appear ready to pass a budget that increases cigarette taxes but fails to include several cuts that the governor had proposed.
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s Assembly was set Wednesday to release its version of a crisis budget that won’t include many of Gov. David Paterson’s proposed cuts to schools, hospitals and public universities and would keep all the state’s parks open, an official said.

The proposal includes borrowing $2 billion to help close a $9.2 billion deficit projected for the 2010-11 budget and increasing the cigarette tax by $1 per pack, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan wasn’t to be released until later in the day.

The plan doesn’t include $600 million in cuts to school aid proposed by Paterson and the Senate’s Democratic majority, which released its plan Monday. That would still leave an $800 million cut in school funding, which now totals $21.6 billion annually.

New York City schools would see $193 million restored under the Assembly plan. Paterson proposed reducing education aid to the city by $492 million, a cut backed by the Senate. If the Assembly prevails, funding would still drop by about $300 million.

The city would also get $150.8 million that had been proposed for elimination from its municipal aid, $13.5 million for its summer youth employment program and $35 million for Metropolitan Transportation Authority cards for students, all critical issues for Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Statewide, the Assembly plan includes:

• $11.5 million to keep open all 91 parks and historic sites the Paterson administration proposed closing. The Senate Democrats also oppose the closings.

• Eliminating Paterson’s plan to increase the Metropolitan Transit Authority payroll tax in counties served by the system.

• Continuing pre-kindergarten programs while blocking a move to pass along costs of summer school for special education students to school districts.

• Rejecting a tax on syrup used for soda, as well as a proposal to allow wine sales in grocery stores.

• Closing the Lyon Mountain and Butler prison facilities, while requiring a review of alternatives to closing the Ogdensburg and Moriah facilities, all major upstate employers.

• Accepting a $109.9 million cut to the State University of New York, while rejecting cuts to SUNY and City University of New York community colleges. The Assembly would also reject cuts to the Tuition Assistance Program, which provides financial aid to hundreds of thousands of students in public and private colleges.